The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali 12-16: Yoga As A Process

In this episode, we discuss sutras 12-16. Having defined the goal of yoga as the stilling of the movements of the mind and described what those movements are, Patanjali now moves on to tell us in broad strokes what yoga means practically.

Transcript

Hello, Yogi! Welcome to my podcast. I'm Aiko and on this show we explore ways to put spiritual theory into sustainable practice. Hi everyone and welcome, Sam. Thank you. It's always nice to be here. Today we're going to speak about Shutra 12th to 16th. We say that if yoga is citta viriti nirodha, Which means it's a stilling of the mind, Of the movements of the mind, This sutra will explain how does this stilling happen. Yes. But let's just give a brief recap of what we said in the previous episodes. So the yoga sutra begins by saying now we will study yoga. Then yoga is defined as you just mentioned here, The stilling of the movements of the mind. Then it says what happens when the movements of the mind have been stilled. It means you will rest in your own being. And if you don't do that, Then you will continue to identify with the movements of the mind. So then after that, In the previous episode, The movements of the mind were defined, Were kind of categorized as five. And those five categories of movements of the mind are right knowledge, Error, Imagination, Sleep, And memory. And then those were each defined. So those are the vritis, The movements of the mind that are to be stilled by yoga. So then, As you said, Now these five sutras we will discuss today, They say how are these five movements stilled by yoga. Let's start then with the Shloka 12. Yes. So, Shloka 12 says, Abhyasa vairagyabhyam tan nirodha. The vritti states of the mind are stilled by practice and dispassion. So this means that yoga has two sides, Practice and dispassion, Like meaning making an effort, But also letting go. So you need both of those. You need to make an effort, But also let go. So I know that vairagya, Like literally means beyond rag, Which means color. So like literally it kind of gives the analogy of being transparent. So it's not really like that you don't care about things or you don't do things, But rather you are not entangled in things. You don't get affected by these different kind of things that are around, That are like said in this word vairagya that you translated as. Vairagya is the word that Edwin Bryant uses in his translation. Okay. Then in Shloka 15 we're going to see a little bit more the meaning of the word vairagya. Do you want to explain, Do you have any examples for this sutra? Yes. I heard some nice comments from Monsbrou, Who has been on this podcast before. Like he kind of explains why it's important that yoga means both practice and detachment or dispassion or this word vairagya. And that is because if you only have the practice, Then you may either get frustrated, Like when you're not like successful with your practice, Or you may become very proud if you are successful all the time. And if you only have detachment, Like if you only have the letting go, Then you may become kind of careless and you may become complacent. And then he gives some examples like also how they are like, They need to be kind of interconnected for your like yogic development. So for example, If you're, If you have a good session of practice, Whether it's mantra recitation or asana practice, Pranayama, For example, If you have like a good session and you become attached to that, Then you may become discouraged, Let's say the next time or disappointed the next time if you don't have the same experience next time. And also if you have a bad one, A bad session where you just can't get focused, You can't seem to focus or it's too painful to do a certain asana or something like that, Then you may also, Like if you're not detached to that, Then you know, That may, For example, Make you think next time, No, I'm not going to leave it because it's, It was like this last time. So that's where this detachment comes in. It's like in relation to the practice. So we can see the detachment is kind of a broad thing. It both means, You know, In relation to things you have to give up to be able to do your practice, But also it needs to be there within the practice as well. Yeah, Very beautiful. So with that, We can move on. So that this, This sutra number 12, You know, Says that yoga means both practice and detachment. So then there are two sutras explaining practice and two sutras explaining detachments. So very pedagogic and logical. So the next sutra, First of the two that explains practice goes tatra sthitao yat no bhihasa, Which means from these practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind. So that is that even though like it is the final goal of yoga to have to have the mind kind of controlled and concentrated still, There is some, Some of that also in the beginning, Like you can have it still. And then the practice is to keep it still. Of course, We practice to still let and when we get some kind of glimpse of that, We try to kind of protect that glimpse. If we had that like little little flame, We try to, Which we try to keep that lit. Yeah. So Monspru like commented that the practice part may be more important in the beginning than the letting letting go part. Like we kind of need to put in some more effort to kind of get some focus established. Because he brought up that it's often kind of thought nowadays that all paths lead to the same goal. So all we have to do is to just be detached and see where life takes us. Therefore, He emphasizes that the augasitras are describing like practice to also be like, Yeah, Yes, You need to have this detachment like you can't control outcomes, But still you have to also make some effort. And you're making an effort in a certain direction as well. So without that effort, You're not going to go where only renunciation will bring you. The practice is something you actually do towards a certain goal. You can think this practically, You know, Like when, Like, How many times you wake up in the morning and think, Oh, I really don't want to do yoga, I don't want to do that. Or I don't want to go to work, Some things like that. But then you push yourself and you go and you do and then you get your salary and then you, You know, You keep on in life. Like, It's very important to, To push forward the times when our mind or our mood it says, Oh, I just don't want to do that. Yes, Yes. That is the practice part. We really need that. We need to kind of take action. Yeah. And then we have the sutra 14th that still speaks about abhyasa. Yes, About practice. So the sutra 14 goes like this. Sattu dirgha kala nairantarya satkara sevito tridhabhumi Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time. So here we may think of uninterrupted in different ways, Because if we think that we will have to practice yoga uninterruptedly, It may sound very overwhelming. So, So one way to think of uninterrupted is that it is every day. Therefore, Monspru commented that it is since like regularity is very helpful for the mind, It is better to do 15 minutes of practice every day than to do like two hours here and there like, Spread out, You know, Two months this week, Two months, Sorry, Two weeks, Two hours this week, Three hours one time next week, You know, It's better to have a regular practice for the mind to get actually also attached to the practice. Yeah, That's very emphasized in the Asian world, Not much here, Like in Japan, Where I was born, Every single person and all the students, Like before starting school, They gather in front of the school in some yard or something and they do 10 or 20 minutes of gymnastic and breathing exercises. And this happens also in offices, Like workers before starting the day, They do some stretching, Breathing exercises, Like in front of their desk if they don't have a place to do that. And they start their day like that. And no matter what they do that, It's like brushing your teeth, You know, You're not just brushing your teeth whenever you want or yeah, Only during the weekend, You just do it like routine and it's good and you know, It's good. Yeah, It's true. There wouldn't be much of a point to brush your teeth once a week and brush it for like an hour. Yeah. It's good to keep it up. And yeah, I've heard that about Japan. Also, There was one instance I heard where like one Japanese company was doing like a collaboration with a European company and when they had a meeting about whether they should do this collaboration and the Japanese representative just like sat down for a while and meditated before like giving his decision. Yeah, Yeah. They're also following a lot the seasons and the moon cycles in order to get important like business decisions. Like for example, They never take decision, Business decision in March because there is the shifting from spring, Sorry, From winter to spring and it's a very strong, A very strong influence where you shift from quote unquote the world sleeping to the world outside and usually we are going into a detox process inside our body which makes us happy. So we are unable to take very clear and sharp minded business decisions so they don't. Wow, That's very interesting. Yeah. Thank you for sharing. So if we come back to the uninterrupted practice. So like one way to think of uninterrupted is then to think of it as something regular that you do every day. So not interrupting it in that sense. And then another way to think of uninterrupted is that you extend the practice even if you're not, You know, Maybe sitting down and reciting mantras all day or doing asanas all day, You bring the spirit of that with you into the rest of your day and try to kind of maintain what you're experiencing in your practice and your more like formal like practice session. Yeah, That's very nice. And also like in Italy there is a saying when someone is crumpy or angry or, You know, Moody, We say, Oh, He or she woke up on the wrong foot means that you become upset for something in the morning and then you carry on this mood all towards the day and it is effective and it is happening. So it's so important to put conscious into that stepping out from the bed, Like waking up. That's also why in our tradition we do meditations and breathing exercise early in the morning because it really sets the rest of the day. Yes, Yes, Definitely. And you had Mark Cossack here on the podcast last year. Yeah. And he also talked about this, How to extend the practice, Like how his teacher told him that he should have to practice, Was it 20 hours a day or something like that? Yeah, Yeah. And he was like, How do I do that? And then he explained, I think it was something like his teacher told him to even the way he's holding the bag. Yeah, He's holding a handbag and also the way he's holding the handle in the bath to keep yourself balanced, You know? And like in all small details, Just put consciousness in what you do and try to be aware of what you do. Like if you think just about breathing, We literally breathe from the day one we are on earth to the last day. How much are we conscious about it? You know? So yeah, It's very important to put consciousness into what we do. Yes. Because breathing is so important for our state of mind. Yeah. So we can actually breathe consciously even if we're not maybe sitting and doing a pranayama session, We can still breathe with awareness throughout the day as well. So then we have talked about practice, So now comes the two sutras describing this dispassion or pronunciation, Letting go. Andrishtanushravika vishaya vitrishnasya vashikara samgya vairagyam Dispassion is the controlled consciousness of one who is without craving for sense objects, Whether these are actually perceived or described. Maybe I will read the next one also immediately but then we can discuss them both together. So number 16 is tatparam purusha kyatir guna vaitrishnam. Higher than renunciation is indifference to the gunas themselves. This stems from the perception of the purusha, Soul. So this talks about two stages of detachment, Two stages of letting go. You could actually say in the second sutra it's having let gone. So in the first stage of detachment you are aware that you are detached. Like things have lost their color, So vairagya, Like they are not attractive to you, The things that are like not good for your yoga practice or contrary to enlightenment. But you're still aware that they are there and these may be inner things or outer things. Often the detachment for outer things will come first, Like you may not, You know, Desire anymore things that are bad for you. But you may have inner things that are bad for you, Which can even be pride for having let gone of the things outside or pride of your practice. But on this second level, When you've actually come in touch with, You're actually resting in your own being, Then you're like not even aware that there was something to be renounced from. And I was thinking of like an example of this could be like, Let's say you're a drug addict and you kind of know very well the city where you live and where you can go and buy and then you stop that, Then you're like still aware. Like you're aware of how bad your life was when having that, But still when you walk through the city, You know exactly like this is where I used to, This is where this guy is selling that and you kind of have to maintain distance from those things. But then like let's say someone who has no idea about that, Like they are also, Like they're completely detached from these things and they are not even aware that they exist, Basically. So there is a difference between those levels of detachment. Like from the former one you could fall back into it, But not from the second one. Yeah, In Sutra 16 it says that vairagya is also when you're beyond the thirst of even the gunas, Which we talk a lot about the gunas in our Bhagavad Gita podcast. So do you want to say something about it? Yes, So like the gunas are the strands of nature, What keeps nature going, Like the creation, Maintenance, Destruction, The thing that everything within the world goes in cycles of. So to be beyond the thirst of the guna. That is the second phase, It's like not even being aware that there was something to want there. It's like you have forgotten basically about distractions. Because I feel like more that means like to be beyond the fear of death, For example, Like the greed of power during your life and those kind of things. Yeah, But also there can be one level of, Like let's say you're not afraid of death because you know that you will live on even after dying, Let's say like that. But the second level of detachment would be like you're not afraid of death because you can't even like relate to death anymore. Like there's no such thing as death. So it's just like not an issue. The question doesn't even come up kind of. Yeah, That makes sense. And but also in this first state of detachment, It is also something that comes gradually. And also within that kind of process, There is also like an understanding that some attachments are not so bad and some other attachments are worse. So you kind of prioritize and you focus on what is most important to work on, Like frantically trying to detach from everything whatsoever. Yeah. And through abyas actually you will reach vairagya. Yes. And also at the same time there needs to be a little vairagya in your abhyasa too. Yeah. Yeah. But as Monzprü mentioned, The abhyasa is there is more focus on abhyasa in the beginning. So then next episode we're going to speak about the sutra 17 to 22 where it is explaining the definition of samadhi and it will give a very, Very broad explanation. He will give different stages of samadhi. So it's very beautiful how it's explained. Yes. Yes. Like it's all very fascinating. It's like throughout the yoga sutras you get explanations of both earlier stages, Middle stages and later stages. And so we can hear about these like fascinating things about different levels of higher stages that are maybe not so like relevant to us now, But it's beautiful in the overall picture when you see that you're maybe progressing through lower stages. So you know that you're on the right track as some commentators have pointed out. So yes, I'm also looking forward to delving into this over the next couple of weeks. Okay. So thank you and see you next time. Thank you. Bye. I hope this episode fulfilled its purpose of inspiring you. If you like it, Feel free to share it, Give a review or a rating, Subscribe. And if you have any question, Please get in touch at aikoauta. Com